Slot 13
by HiOhio13
Summary: Agent Illinois had been part of Freelancer for months, rising fast through the ranks. Until she came to a stalemate, she'd always played by the rules, but rules were put there to be broken eventually. OC fic, Cannon/Oc later on.
1. Chapter 1

Agent Illinois leaned against the hand railing, scanning the leaderboard while chewing on the dead skin on her lip. Inwardly, she was disappointed, if not a little angry, the board never changed, never put new names on it. Deserving names.

She'd been inducted into Project Freelancer over six months ago, she worked day and night to get higher on the list. To her dismay all that work never moved her further then slot 13. It was a competitve enviroment, she could respect that, but what's the point of competition if the board never moved?

She dipped her head with a sigh, not wanting to look at it anymore, it only made her more bitter towards the Director and his "favorites".

Illinois turned on her heel and began walking down the corridor, now in a crummy mood.

"Hey!" She looked over her shoulder, watching a tall brunette girl walking her way. "Haven't seen you all day, where ya been?" Iowa skipped the rest of the distance between them, playfully bumping her shoulder into Illinois.

"Sleeping, training, workin' out, the usual," Illinois replied monotonously.

Iowa frowned at her companion for a moment then immediately the smile came back on her face. "Well, come to the rec hall with me," she suggested. "Take a break from 'the usual'." She made air quotations with her fingers while Illinois just rolled her eyes.

"So, uh..what have you been doin' all day?" Illinois asked.

"Nothing really, basic patrolling as is the norm. " Patrolling for the lower ranking agents simple meant waundering around the ship with no intended purpose for hours at a time. Just so long as they could avoid real work it didn't matter.

Iowa took everything she was given seriously though, even if no one else thought of it that way. Due to her lack of emotional control the Director and Counsiler wouldn't give her any high risk missions, she was a last resort alternate.

"Sounds incredibly boring," Illinois commented.

"Sure as hell beats workin' my ass of all day," She chuckled as they entered the hall.

"My favorite ladies!" Minnesota shouted with a grin on his face. He threw his arms around both their shoulders leading them towards the table he came from. "Ya hear what happened?"

"What cha talking about?"

"New girl," Minnesota grinned devillishly. "Kicked York, Wyoming, and Maine's ass."

"So what," Illinois scoffed. "I can take York one on one, Wyoming and Maine too, so long as I have a partner."

Minnesota tilted his head on to Illinois' shoulder with a smirk. "All at once, no partner?" Illinois glared down at Minnesota before shoving him off her, they stood inches away from each other, straighten posture, fist clenched. He turned his head to the side with an arrogant look pasted across his face, her brow knitted together as her eyes narrowed, daring him to challenge her skill.

"Sounds like a badass," Iowa interrupted nonchalantly, bacon all ready filling her mouth. "But fame doesn't last long around her, all the hype will die down by tomorrow." She really didn't want another lunchroom brawl between those two, none of them could afford to get in trouble since the last time.

"Just more competition," Illinois mumbled before she took a sip of her overtly sweet coffee, while Iowa gave her a judging look, barely catching that last comment.

"Oh bitch bitch bitch," Minnesota complained. "Man, you take everything this stuff too seriously."

"And you don't take it seriously enough!" Illinois spoutted out, almost yelling. "There's a reason for that board, and I want to be at the top of it when that reason is made clear."

Minnesota cupped his hands to his face. "Oh no there are people better then me, the feelings of inadequacies are too much to take. Blehhhh." He mocked with a laugh.

"Don't push me, Minnesota." Illinois sneered through gritted teeth.

"All right, that's enough outta you two," Iowa interrupted again, yelling at the two out of frustration. "I am not gonna her this bickering all day long, take it out in the arena or just shut up for god sake!"

They raised the eyebrows at her then backed off as they realized the room had nested in an awkward dead silence. "No, we settle this now like men," She shot a grin to Minnesota. "If your up to it." She set her elbow on the table, hand raised in the air.

"Arm wrestling, seriously?" Iowa crossed her arms in disappointed.

"Oh you know I am," Minnesota ignored Iowa's comment and slapped his hand against Illinois as hard as he could. "Go."

**~Short little introduction chapter for my peoples. R&R.**


	2. Chapter 2

It was well past midnight when Illinois grogily climbed out of bed, she rubbed her eyes angrily trying to wipe away yet again another failed night of sleep.

She slipped on a pair of worn jeans and black shirt in the dark before sliding open the door. This time of night only guard soliders and a few insomnia riddled freelancers were out and about, it was a lonely hour indeed.

She bidded her time walking slow down the hall with her hands closed up in her pockets, the clock read four am, so her usual company would be out cold still.

She laughed to herself inwardly, out of the fifty recruits on board she could only seem to get along with a small handful. And of course had made more then her fair share of enemies.

Speaking of which, she turned the corner, and ran straight into Wisconsin, he stumbled back a few steps while she landed roughly on the cold floor. He smirked down at her as she stumbled quickly to her feet.

She glared up at him wanting to appear unfazed, but failing.

"Well if it isn't my favorite person."

Illinois leaned against the wall, arms crossed trying to keep as much distance from Wisconsin without revealing her discomfort. "So, 'Noisy."

He took a few steps closer pressing the palm of his hand on the wall inches away from her face. "Don't know if you saw, but it looks like someone's two ranks behind me."

"Awfully proud of yourself aren't you?" She sneered. "Who'd you cheat this?"

"Oh isn't cheating just a nasty word, I prefer..." he leaned, she could now feel his breath on her ear. "Innovative."

"A word of warning," she whispered in a low threatening tone. "Not everyone is gonna be as forgiving as I was."

"Don't be so sore, 'Noisy, maybe if your nice I'll show you some moves in private."

She scoffed. "Like how to hide a knife in my suit? I'll pass thanks."

"Come on, 'Noisy," He drew his face closer, now their noses were touching. "I'd love to revisit old times."

"Hey kids, ever heard no PDA," North strolled by with Wash at his side, letting out a low chuckle. Wisconsin immediately pulled away with a sneer in North's direction then began on his way down the hall. Surprisingly, North was the only person that really intimidated Wisconsin.

There was a time when Wisconsin had tried wooing South, of course anyone who'd even heard of South knew she was only here for the competition. When all else failed, he broke out the alcohol, getting her well passed inebriated then tried throwing the moves on her. North lost his cool guy attitude, and the rest is history.

North placed a friendly hand of Illinois shoulder, with a smile. "You all right? I know how much of a jerk Wisco-"

"Can I ask you a question," She interrupted with a flat tone.

North gave her a questioning look before answering. "Uh, sure?"

"Did I ask for help?" She swiped his hand off. "Did anything that was going on make it seem like I couldn't handle myself?"

"I was jus-"

"You _may_ have had good intentions, but they are wasted."

Wash stepped out from behind North, clearly irritated. "Listen Agent, it would do you good to take help when it's offered, needed or not."

"No, _Washington_, I don't need help, especially from favorites like you!" Her voice rose an octave as the setence ended, then turned on her heel and left in a huff.

"What's her deal?" Washington asked as they watched her leave.

"No idea man."


End file.
